He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
by OpheliacAngel
Summary: Gabriel interfered in Dean's hunt in more ways than one, little did the hunter know that he would soon interfere in other areas of his life as well. And Sam, well, Sam never saw this coming. Could be set either in the 2nd half of Season 6 or Season 7, but there's no spoilers. Dean/Gabriel.
1. Stepping In

**Title: **He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

**Author: **OpheliacAngel

**Characters & Pairings: **Dean/Gabriel, Sam

**Genre: **Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Family

**Summary: **Gabriel interfered in Dean's hunt in more ways than one, little did the hunter know that he would soon interfere in other areas of his life as well. And Sam, well, Sam never saw this coming. Could be set either in the 2nd half of Season 6 or Season 7, but there's no spoilers.

**A/N: **Just a fairly short two chapter thing I came up with pretty quick. More dialogue, less description/imagery, which is great practice for me. As with all of my stuff, enjoy.

**Chapter 1: **Stepping In

* * *

Dean shivers in his sopping wet clothes, wraps useless arms around himself that can only give him the illusion of much needed warmth.

This is all Gabriel's fault. If he hadn't startled the thing, sent Dean flying into the near below freezing lake to finish the job, the Winchester wouldn't be standing here right now, freezing his ass off and wondering why Gabriel has to show up at the absolute worst of times.

Now, he just misses Sam more than anything else.

"Hey!"

Dean turns around, catches a brief glimpse of the archangel before he decides to go disappearing again.

"Son of a bitch," he can barely get the words out, as his teeth are rattling so hard and his head feels like it's turning into a cold mush.

The next thing he knows, there are strong hands guiding him down onto a bench that wasn't there before. He doesn't try to fight since he doesn't know if his tired limbs will protest or obey. After that there's something warm slipping over his shoulders, and his brain focuses enough to realize that it's a blanket.

Not to mention that Gabriel is settling down right next to him, as if he's wanted or something. Which, Dean wants to add, he's not.

"You're a dick, you know that?"

"Hey!" Gabriel looks over at him, insulted, "Play fair, Dean. I didn't tell you to go jump in that lake."

He doesn't answer him, Gabriel should know anyway that he does whatever it takes on a hunt. And if an archangel happens to drop in and fuck up that hunt, the hunter pays the consequences. Dean's no different.

"You could at least apologize," Dean offers or rather, growls.

Gabriel shrugs, "For what?"

That's the most annoying thing about him; the fact that he doesn't care, acts like a child no matter what goes down, taunts and teases at every twist and every turn.

Dean gets up off the bench, wishes he could relax on it for a few more minutes but he's nowhere near ready to accept the trickster's hospitality, which means he shrugs the cozy blanket off his shoulders as well and watches painfully as it slides to the damp ground.

The only thing that could make this situation any worse is if it started raining, and knowing Gabriel that's about to happen in two seconds.

"Wait!" Gabriel calls, stalling Dean in his tracks, Dean afraid to look back, almost afraid that he won't be able to start moving again. "You won't be able to make it back. Not without me," he adds.

"Then I'll deal," he starts walking again. Leaving the archangel behind feels great, feels better than great.

"You really have a death wish, don't you?" Gabriel begins walking beside him, close enough to touch and it's uncomfortable, unnerving is more like it.

"Just leave me alone," his teeth chatter harder. "Don't you have better places to be?"

"Not really. Besides, Sam'll kill me if he finds you dead on the doorstep."

"I'm about ready to kill you right now," Dean snaps back, though it sounds more like a plea than anything. He hates for the archangel to see him like this, vulnerable and apparently needing help after this disaster, needing _his _help specifically. Bullshit though, Dean couldn't live with himself afterward if he gave into the archangel, no matter how warm he may look or how soft his arms would feel against his skin. He shakes the thought and travels back to the realm of agitation.

What Gabriel drops around his shoulders next is a nice thick coat. The fur lining is very warm and very soft, a nice, savory comparison to Gabriel himself but dammit, what crawled up into his head and started giving him these thoughts? Gabriel's arms engulfing him? Warm, sweet breath in his ear, startling him back up into reality? Both the coat and these thoughts have the Winchester doubting if his arms will really allow him to remove this salvation, or ridicule (kill) its owner.

He still makes a move to remove it though and Gabriel stills him quickly with a firm grip on his wrist. It has Dean grimacing and looking up into his golden eyes at the same time. "Don't Deano. You're not acting like an idiot and freezing to death tonight."

"You gonna stop me?" He growls (whimpers) because the cold is becoming painful.

"As a matter of fact, I am. Not to mention," Gabriel wraps an arm around his back, "I'm taking you home."

Before the hunter can even consider protesting, he's being whooshed away into dizzying nothingness. It's eternity before he's in familiar surroundings, the archangel dropping him onto a bed and it's startling enough to cause Sam to freak out and literally jump several feet in the air before sliding off his bed.

"What happened?" He demands Gabriel, rushing over to the other bed within moments to look his brother over. Dean's barely with it, surely too weak to protest and definitely set on drifting off into painful dreamland.

Sam slaps his cheek though, "Not yet, Dean. Don't you dare fall asleep on me yet."

He blinks, sees a hazy version of Gabriel before his eyes start to slip shut again. Normally, he would feel Sam's panic, though now, he's just too damn exhausted and relieved to. Maybe Gabriel bringing him here wasn't such a bad idea after all, infuriating as hell but he'll just be pissed off again in the morning...

"He's fine, Sam. Just get him warmed up and let him sleep."

The youngest wants to turn his focus to Gabriel, primarily his rage. There's no time for that though, it feels like his brother's dangerously close to hypothermia, he's already starting to shiver less and less by the second.

"Then help me!" He brushes back Dean's dripping wet hair, starts to undress him as best he can, while his brother mumbles protests, and then gets him under the covers, piling as many blankets as he can find on top of him. His entire attention is on Dean as he keeps talking, "I need more blankets and warm water and heating pads!"

There's no response.

"Gabriel?"

He looks up, but the archangel's gone.


	2. Giving Up On Denial

**Title: **He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

**Chapter 2: **Giving Up On Denial

* * *

Sam is in a flurry for the rest of the night. Even when he's not patting Dean's skin with warm blankets or applying heating pads where they need to be most, even when he's sitting down he's still a mess, a million thoughts turning over and over in his head, each one begging for just a moment of his time. He works hard to block them all, to only focus on his brother's sleeping form inches away from him.

It's been an hour since he curled himself around Dean, pushed his frantic flesh against his brother's in an effort to warm him up. Sure, it might have been embarrassing to Dean if he had been awake for any of it, and not to mention deadly for Sam if his brother had really been awake. He should have thought to take a picture during all this, to use solely as blackmail material, but the truth is that just praying for Dean to be okay and plotting revenge against that damn archangel turned out to be more than enough to occupy his time.

He's still dead worried, not to mention beyond tired. But he's confident enough to say that his brother should be fine, that he'll survive this ordeal. He survives through the worst after all, and this has nothing on hell.

Gabriel bringing Dean here in that state is what's still bugging him, giving his hands justification to wring his throat if he ever manages to come back. He doesn't know if Gabriel's the cause of all this or not, just because his gut instincts are telling him that the archangel just saved his life and nothing more doesn't give him any reason to trust him.

Sam runs a hand through his hair, scoots up onto the bed to be closer to his brother. If he wakes he'll freak out for sure, but Sam can't really find himself able to care about it at this point. Dean is all he has, all he'll ever have. He can't lose him.

If Gabriel's mistakes take Dean away from him, he _will_ be wishing for death compared to what he's already thinking about doing.

**xxx**

Gabriel tries his best to tiptoe nearer to the bed since his arrival at the door, but either Sam has some pretty whacked out hearing or he was feigning sleep. Probably the latter since Gabriel's skills are way more legendary than the Winchester's will ever be.

"What are you doing back here?" Sam growls, sitting up, "You left me with him, you just _left_. You're damn lucky I'm not throwing you out right now."

"Really Sammy? Cause I'd like to see you try."

"Don't push me, Gabriel. Don't you dare try me after bringing Dean back like this. He's _still_ shivering. You're a fucking dick, Dean knows it too."

Sam's actually surprised that the archangel doesn't have him up against a wall by now. His face is lined with rage but it seems to be relatively under control, though the Winchester really wouldn't peg the archangel for being a stable person. His gaze doesn't break under Gabriel's relenting stare, if the archangel is just expecting him to let this go and give him permission to be here than he's sadly mistaken.

"What happened anyway? Why can't you just tell me?"

"Your stupid brother wanted to come back here himself. I'd be bringing him to you dead if I hadn't gone with him, Sam. That's all you need to know. That and the fact that he's a selfish idiot. Don't know how you put up with him sometimes. I know I can't, could've left him there is what I could've done." Sam doesn't think he actually pauses for breath in between any of this, mouth dropping open at his rambling, which he's honestly never seen before. Gabriel's always cool as a cucumber unless Dean makes the mistake to piss him off in some way, yet even then he never allows his emotions to get the better of him.

Wait a minute? Is it just him or does the archangel look frustrated and at a loss for some reason?

"Then why didn't you?"

Gabriel shrugs and Sam just stands there, faded carpet underneath him, suddenly, strangely not pissed at him in the slightest anymore. He does nothing now but read the archangel when he should be focused solely on Dean. He's lying, he doesn't know how he can tell, but honestly Gabriel doesn't hate his brother as much as he apparently thinks he does. He can't help but smile upon realizing this.

_Never would've expected. _

"What're you grinning at, Samsquatch?"

"Nothing, just that I think you have a crush. And I know _who_ you have a crush on." He's about ready to giggle pathetically like a schoolboy but he doesn't, finding something out about Gabriel this big may be funny, but more than anything it's worth savoring, getting him all pissed off and nervous since he's now in on it. _What joy._ Sam thinks back to other moments when the archangel stopped by, moments where there may have been looks or words exchanged and hints dropped.

_Nope, nothing. Wish I could have something more to go on other than right now. _

Gabriel scoffs, "What? You gotta be kidding me."

"Nope," Sam shakes his head, turning away to look at Dean and really wishing he were awake to witness this epic moment. Gabriel's poker face has melted, his emotions are getting the better of him and hallelujah. Sam imagined this would never happen in a trillion years. "I'm really not." Gabriel actually gives a damn about his brother, that was proved when he brought him back, but now this denial, this failing poker face under Sam's scrutiny is deliciously unnerving. He can't believe that Gabriel actually has a thing for his brother.

"You're delusional, Winchester. It's as simple as that." He tries, tries and fails one last time. And he knows it too, that's the greatest thing of all.

_Sure it is. Can't wait till Dean hears about this. _

**xxx**

Unfortunately, he never gets to tell Dean about it, isn't given the chance to have Dean laugh alongside him, doubt him, blush and deny and put forth that cute and familiar little pout. Rather, he falls asleep, like an idiot, waiting for morning and wakes up in the bed right next to Dean's hearing whispers develop into hushed words and chuckling morphing into full on laughing.

He doesn't sit up, yet, instead watches the sight before his eyes, Gabriel and Dean. His brother's laughing, after that traumatic experience last night he actually looks pretty happy. And the archangel is right beside him, his current position under the covers and scooted up closer to his brother than Sam would've expected him to tolerate. The archangel's eyes are huge and fixated on one thing and one thing only. _Guess what that thing is._

This shouldn't be such a shock after last night's revelation but it is. Sam expected Dean to push him away.

It doesn't matter now though, Sam opens his ears, listens till he thinks he can't possibly listen to anymore.

"Come here, you idiot," Gabriel pushes himself closer till he's practically on top of Dean and quite surprisingly, his brother doesn't push away. In fact, he seems to be enjoying it. "Just say you love me and let's get this all over with so we can move on to more... Exciting things. Otherwise, I'm gonna have to dunk you in some freezing cold water again to bring you back to your senses."

Dean rolls his eyes, takes Gabriel lips in a rough, needy kiss. It makes Sam nearly gag but he manages to stay still and quiet, not wanting to miss a second of this.

"I love you, though I shouldn't."

The more than thrilled archangel smiles wide, "There, was that so hard?"

His brother growls, pushes Gabriel flat on his back and rolls over to get on top of him, kissing him again. "Just shut up, shut up and let me..."

Gabriel doesn't bother asking what, he just sinks into Dean, satisfied and smiling, hands wrapping around him securely, fingernails digging into his back unrelenting and his brother moans, makes Sam grimace and shut his eyes for a few moments. _Well, this is happening sooner than expected. Shit, he thought Dean hated him. _

"Don't tell, Sam." Gabriel warns in between kisses, "Then I'd really have to kill you."

"Think Sammy would have a heart attack anyway."

Sam groans under his breath at what is sure to take place in the next few minutes but then ends up smiling, rolls over and goes back to sleep. At least he knows Gabriel's on their side, a protector towards Dean, a lover. And sure, the thought may be a little sickening, them kissing and snuggling but it's a helluva lot better than the archangel being the root of the problem, plotting against them, putting Dean into dangerous situation after dangerous situation.

Wait a minute, Sam thinks just before he loses consciousness, does this mean Gabriel becomes part of the family? _This may be more than I can handle. Damn you, Dean. I give up, looks like I'm just destined for torture. _

Gabriel, still smothering Dean with kisses, laughs.

**FIN**


End file.
